A Brief History Of Cheriton

St Martin’s church has stood on the hillside at the top of the Horn Street valley, at the west end of Folkestone for over a thousand years. The date the church was built is not known, however the original building (consisting of the nave and tower) was built prior to 900AD. Inside of the church one can see the original Saxon doorway into the tower and a Saxon window above. This building is the oldest church in Folkestone and the parish church of Cheriton. But whereas many local history books have documented Folkestone few have given Cheriton more than a passing mention; mostly to acknowledge the fact that the churchyard contains the grave of Samuel Plimsoll, a Liberal M.P. for Derby, who is world renowned for creating the “Plimsoll Line” on ships which has undoubtedly saved the lives of many thousands of seamen, and earned him the nickname “The Sailor’s Friend.”

There is evidence of a settlement in what we now know as Cheriton as early as 2500BC although little is known about the settlers. The only evidence, so far, comes from the discovery of late-Neolithic pottery in 1972 by workmen laying a water main. The suggestion was that the two vessels found may have been casually discarded domestic rubbish, but they were more likely to be burial vessels as their condition tended to suggest they were buried complete. The two vessels found dated from different periods, the earlier one from the middle of the third millennium BC and a more complete bowl probably from around 2000BC. Other excavations in 1948 had also unearthed pottery believed to be Belgic and Samian ware, from a later period, 1st century AD. At the time it was suggested, although not conclusively proved, that this find gave credence to a Roman road from Lympne to Dover passing through this area.

The name Cheriton derives from the Old English words “Cirice tūn” meaning Church farmstead and this church, as mentioned above, dates from Saxon times with additions being made in the 13th, 14th, 19th and 21st centuries. However, most people today think of Cheriton not as the rural village that stretches down the Horn Street valley but the built up area straddling the main road into Folkestone.

Land ownership in early times was based on service usually granted perhaps in the first instance by the monarch of the day and then granted similarly by his supporters. According to Hasted’s History of Kent in 1790 there were several manors within the parish of Cheriton, namely: Cheriton, Enbrook, Bishops Enbrook, Sweet Arden, Caseborne, Swetton and Ackhanger. Records of these date back to the 12th century, but some had long since disappeared by the 18th century and Hasted’s time. It is important to note also that the word “manor” does not necessarily mean that a stately home existed; the manor might just as easily have been a farmstead or other building and the surrounding land. In fact until the late 1800s well over 90% of Cheriton was agricultural land. But with the arrival of the railway and the resulting success of Folkestone as a tourist resort together with the proximity of Shorncliffe Camp, a separate entity called Cheriton Street sprang up to service the needs of both the army camp and Folkestone’s hotels. In fact Cheriton’s main industry was to become the laundry business and earned it the name of the “Washtub of Folkestone!” Gradually the villages or hamlets of Cheriton, Risborough, Barton and now Cheriton Street have all merged into one – Cheriton as we now know it. Over the years industries have come and gone - the brickyards, and Dormobile (who converted Vauxhall cars and Bedford vans). And the invention of the washing machine sounded the death knell for the laundry industry with the last laundry closing down in the 1980s.

The Channel Tunnel has brought some prosperity to a town in decline whilst robbing it of ancient agricultural land, and yet Cheriton has continued to survive and grow in size. So with Cheriton possibly losing some of its own identity from becoming simply an outskirt of Folkestone, local resident and author Vince Williams, has decided to chronicle the history of Cheriton in a series of books which are raising money for a new community centre. Three 80 page volumes are already out and available from Rocheforts Newsagents and Forget Me Not in Cheriton, The Hythe Bookshop, and The Vine Bookshop in Folkestone at a cost of £10 for paperbacks and £15 for hardbacks. The first volume chronicles the history of St. Martin’s Church, the second is called “Cheriton – An Illustrated History Volume 1” and the third is diary of the first vicar of All Souls Church and how the church and schools were built and the parish grew. A further volumes, “Cheriton – An Illustrated History Volume 2” is currently being written and will be published later in 2010.